Internet user base in India reaches 354 million in H1 2015: IAMAI

The Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and three years from 100 to 200 millionNeha Alawadhi | ET Bureau | Updated: September 03, 2015, 08:36 IST

As subscribers shift to data-based services, telecom operators have been wanting to strike revenue-sharing deals with companies such as WhatsApp and Skype.India's Internet user base grew over 17% in the first six months of this year to 354 million, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

The base had grown to 302 million by the end of 2014 after clocking its fastest rise of 32% in a year, as per its fastest rise of 32% in a year, as per IAMAI, which includes members such as Google, Microsoft Facebook, eBay, IBM, Flipkart, Ola and LinkedIn.

The Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and three years from 100 to 200 million. However, it took only a year to move from 200 to 300 million users, noted the Association.

Mobile Internet in India also grew significantly last year. The mobile Internet user base reached 213 million by June 2015. The country had 159 million mobile Internet users by October 2014, out of which 119 million users were from urban users and the rest 40 million were from rural India.

With the growth of the Internet, digital commerce, digital advertising, payments and social media have also seen steady growth over the past year.

IAMAI has also said that increase in local language content on the Internet will lead to a growth of 39% in the current Internet user base, with rural India being the primary driver of this growth (75%) while in urban India will grow at 16%.

The local language user base grew at 47% to reach 127 million in June 2015. IAMAI believes that the next set of internet users will come from rural India and the availability of local language content on internet will be the key for the growth of Internet industry in India.